Pocono school districts reconsider ban of personal electronics in class

Monday

Jul 30, 2012 at 12:01 AM

It's a wired world, and school district officials are taking notice, in some cases even changing their long-standing policies banning students from bringing personal technology into the classroom.

CHRISTINA TATU

It's a wired world, and school district officials are taking notice, in some cases even changing their long-standing policies banning students from bringing personal technology into the classroom.

Delaware Valley School District in Pike County recently updated its policy to allow students to have, and silently use, electronic communication devices at certain times during the day.

Stroudsburg Area School District is looking into a similar policy for its high school.

"We are envisioning personal technology to be used as an additional resource, similar to a library. If used properly, it's a library that kids carry with them," said Stroudsburg Superintendent John Toleno.

Stroudsburg officials announced their plans to revisit the district's personal technology policy during the July school board meeting.

Teachers expend a great deal of energy trying to enforce the district's current policy, which prohibits students from bringing personal technology, including laptops, iPads, Kindles, MP3 players, cell phones and similar devices, into school.

Most of the time, students bring those devices into the building anyway, Toleno said.

"We are in a day and age of technology," Toleno said. "By making the kids turn these things off when they get to school, I think we are doing a disservice to these kids."

Allowing students to bring their own devices isn't as simple as giving them the green light, said East Stroudsburg Area School District Director of Technology Brian Borosh.

"I think it would be very useful, but there are a lot of things you have to take into account," he said. "You have to make sure their equipment is free of viruses, put them on a separate guest network and make sure they aren't using any file-sharing equipment."

If students are accessing the Internet with their smart phones, there's really no way to monitor their Internet usage on the device because the connection is being provided by the phone's service provider.

"If they are using their cellular provider network, you really can't filter that content in the building," Borosh said.

School officials could require students only connect to the Internet through the school's service provider, but there's the issue of enforcement.

"Who will be looking over a room full of students to make sure they are connected to the school's wireless network instead of using their provider's network?" Borosh asked.

"On the other hand, too, if the students are engaged and using their own devices, I think the amount of students that would be doing anything disruptive or inappropriate would be very slim," he said.

There's also the cost of setting up a separate network so students cannot breach the security of administrative computers.

The district would also need to purchase a "network access control box," which would scan the students' computers when they connect to the district's network, ensuring they don't have any computer viruses, Borosh said.

Borosh wants to take a "wait and see" approach to check how other districts are handling it first.

For three years now, Quakertown Community School District in Bucks County has been supplying its high school students with laptops, or allowing them the option to bring their own.

Three years ago, the district started purchasing a laptop for each incoming freshman student, said the district's supervisor of technology, Joe Kuzo.

Students who take a school-issued laptop have the option of using that computer until they graduate.

This past year, the district purchased about 400 computers for the freshman class.

Many of the students took advantage of the school-issued laptops during the first year of the program, he said. Only 15 percent opted to bring their own computers that year, Kuzo said.

Last year, about 30 percent used their own laptops.

Homework assignments are posted online as well as daily classroom notes, making it easier for students who miss a day of school to catch up.

In addition, students receive their own email addresses, which can be used to send and receive email from their teachers. The new system blocks students from contacting each other, however, or anyone outside of the district.

"It gives kids who are hesitant to raise their hand in class a chance to be more interactive," Kuzo said.